Leadership

Holden Advisors’ Management Team is the source for some of the most cutting-edge pricing and negotiation thought-leadership across the globe.

Their strategic direction for Holden Advisors focuses on generating the most transformative content possible, fostering breakout growth for our clients, and utilizing the latest technologies, evolving go-to-market strategies around the world.

In 2012, Dr. Holden published Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Strategies to Defend your Price and Value, and in 2008, he published with co-author Mark Burton Pricing with Confidence: Ten Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table, a top selling pricing book for the executives. He also co-wrote The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing 2ndand 3rd editions during his tenure as CEO of Strategic Pricing Group (Monitor|Deloitte).

A dynamic and engaging presenter with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Holden is a regular speaker and keynote for executive and sales events for Fortune 1000 companies. He is engaged to facilitate negotiation, pricing and customer value workshops and coaches sales people and senior executives in companies that strive for price leadership.

Carolyn Holden

President & CEO

Carolyn leads Holden Advisors and focuses her efforts on client management, growth, and commitment to the firm’s core values. With a proven record in strategic planning, business development and growth, Carolyn… Read More

Carolyn Holden

President & CEO

Carolyn leads Holden Advisors and focuses her efforts on client management, growth, and commitment to the firm’s core values. With a proven record in strategic planning, business development and growth, Carolyn works to foster thought-leadership throughout the firm, to guide our clients in fast changing markets and competitive landscapes.

As CEO, she oversees the goals and investment needed to drive thought-leadership and mastery in advising customers on more effective pricing and sales performance. Under her leadership, Holden Advisors has published 2 books,Pricing with Confidenceand the ground-breakingNegotiating with Backbone, along with thought-provoking publications on gaining an outside-in view of customers, Backbone selling, and pricing for profits.

As an entrepreneurial leader, Carolyn drives the positioning of the firm, client relationships, and contracting, as well as resource planning and operations. She draws on 20 years of sales and marketing management experience. A veteran in selling professional services, her background includes venture-backed high technology start-ups as well as Fortune 500 organizations.

Adele McLean

Vice President

Under Adele’s leadership, companies have experienced profit gains and improved performance results including: moving the profits of the largest division of a multi-national conglomerate from last place to first place;… Read More

Adele McLean

Vice President

Under Adele’s leadership, companies have experienced profit gains and improved performance results including: moving the profits of the largest division of a multi-national conglomerate from last place to first place; continuous six quarter increases in profits of a $250m consumer products group; delivered 2% revenue lift in two years at $4B global manufacturing company by redesigning and implementing discount controls including channel programs and sales delegations; and developed and implemented revenue planning processes that provided 99% forecast accuracy in support of ’street’ reporting consistency. McLean was formerly Vice President Business Operations and Vice President of World Wide Sales Operations for Western Digital and held leadership positions in finance, operations and sales positions at IBM, Seagate Technologies, and Avaya. Adele received her B.S. in Business Administration and Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Brian Doyle

Vice President

Brian is Vice President at Holden Advisors. In his role, Brian improves his client’s revenue and profitability through the building of cross-functional, strategic relationships and then leads his team to… Read More

Brian Doyle

Vice President

Brian is Vice President at Holden Advisors. In his role, Brian improves his client’s revenue and profitability through the building of cross-functional, strategic relationships and then leads his team to deliver results and drive positive change across client organizations. Under Brian’s leadership, his clients and business units have earned an extra $2B in new business, doubled their market share and reduced commercial expenses by 20%.

Brian received a BS in Physics from the US Air Force Academy and an MS in Engineering Systems Management from St. Mary’s University. Brian is also certified in Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma and General Electric’s Train the Trainer Courses.

Patrick McCullough

Director

Patrick is responsible for commercializing the firm’s vast array of intellectual property across a range of delivery models to best meet client needs. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Patrick spent… Read More

Patrick McCullough

Director

Patrick is responsible for commercializing the firm’s vast array of intellectual property across a range of delivery models to best meet client needs. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Patrick spent nearly 15 years in the medical device industry transforming go-to-market strategies in both an upstream and downstream capacity. Patrick specializes in driving the adoption of complex ideas and products by translating customer insights into tangible value. He has led cross-functional partnerships across marketing, product, R&D, and finance with extensive experience training and developing sales teams to achieve product growth expectations.

Patrick received a BS in Marketing from the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.

Erin Cihak

Director

Erin is Director, Consulting Services. Erin’s focus is delivering a positive bottom-line impact to Holden’s SaaS and professional services clients through strategic and tactical pricing actions. She previously held pricing… Read More

Erin Cihak

Director

Erin is Director, Consulting Services. Erin’s focus is delivering a positive bottom-line impact to Holden’s SaaS and professional services clients through strategic and tactical pricing actions. She previously held pricing leadership roles in both consulting and in industry over the past 15 years including a leadership role in strategic consulting and value services at PROS, VP of Pricing at Imagine Communications, and project leadership roles for Kalypso and Accenture. Erin has an MBA from SMU’s Cox School of Business and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines.

Chris Mitchell

Vice President - Emeritus

Chris has over 25 years of experience in sales tactics and strategy development, sales management consulting, marketing alignment, sales process, and performance improvement. She has been devoted to marquis brands… Read More

Chris Mitchell

Vice President - Emeritus

Chris has over 25 years of experience in sales tactics and strategy development, sales management consulting, marketing alignment, sales process, and performance improvement. She has been devoted to marquis brands in healthcare (including PBMs), logistics, transportation, office imaging, professional services, and the manufacturing industries resulting in measurable increased performance. Specifically, Chris has worked globally with clients to launch new products; design and deliver client national sales meetings; integrate sales and marketing functions around a common go-to-market strategy; enhance field coaching; optimize value propositions with improved consultative selling skills initiatives; develop sales processes and certify scores of client trainers.

Prior to joining Holden Advisors, Chris spent over a decade at Huthwaite as Director of Global Accounts, with a strong focus of delivering outstanding value with diverse, globally-based teams and distribution networks. She is known for her passion and enthusiasm as well as her ability to connect key learning points to the business world.

Newsletter

About Us

Holden Advisors are experts in the pricing and sales performance development space. We help our clients take control of their differential value and use it to transform their business..